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The Daily Insight

How common is asthma in Europe?

Author

Christopher Pierce

Updated on February 25, 2026

In Europe, almost 10 million people <45 years of age have asthma [1]. The prevalence of asthma in the European Union (EU) is 8.2% in adults and 9.4% in children.

Which country has the highest prevalence of asthma?

The five countries with the highest prevalence of clinical asthma were Australia (21.5%), Sweden (20.2%), UK (18.2%), Netherlands (15.3%), and Brazil (13.0%). Finally, using the least stringent definition, the global prevalence of wheezing was estimated to be 8.6% (95% CI: 8.5; 8.7).

What is the worldwide prevalence of asthma?

Asthma affects an estimated 300 million individuals worldwide. Annually, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 15 million disability-adjusted life-years are lost and 250,000 asthma deaths are reported worldwide.

In what countries is asthma least prevalent?

Asthma prevalence in the U.S. is higher than in most other countries in the world, but varies drastically between ethnic populations. Asthma prevalence is highest in Puerto Ricans, African Americans, Filipinos, Irish Americans, and Native Hawaiians, and lowest in Mexicans and Koreans.

How common is asthma in the UK?

In the UK, over 8 million people, or approximately 12% of the population, have been diagnosed with asthma.

How common is asthma in Australia?

Around 2.7 million Australians (11% of the total population) have asthma, based on self‑reported data from the 2017–18 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Health Survey (NHS) (ABS 2018).

Is asthma a global health issue?

We know that asthma is a serious global health issue because health researchers (paediatricians, respiratory physicians and epidemiologists) in 306 centres in 105 countries, wanting to estimate how large the problem was for children in their locality, joined the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood …

Why does Australia have a lot of asthma?

High winds caused fields of ryegrass in Melbourne’s north and west to release their pollen into the warm spring air. The sudden gust of colder, moister air then took that pollen and shattered it into millions of tiny fragments which entered the lungs of asthmatics around the city.

What age group is asthma more common in?

Asthma is more common in adult women than adult men. It is the leading chronic disease in children. Currently, there are about 5.1 million children under the age of 18 with asthma. Asthma is more common in boys than girls.

What percentage of people have asthma?

Percentage of adults in the U.S. that have asthma: 7.6%. Total number of Americans that have asthma: More than 25 million. Percentage of white children in the U.S. with asthma: 7.5%. Percentage of African-American children in the U.S. with asthma: 13.5%. Number of emergency room visits for asthma each year: 1.8 million.

How many people worldwide have asthma?

It is estimated by the World Health Organisation that 300 million individuals have asthma worldwide, and that with current rising trends this will reach 400 million by 2025. Approximately 250,000 people die prematurely each year from asthma; almost all these deaths are avoidable (Pawankar R, et al, 2013)

Is asthma prevalence still increasing?

The prevalence of allergic rhinitis increased in Westernized countries from the 1870s through the 1950s. The rate of asthma subsequently increased in these countries beginning in the 1960s. Asthma and allergic rhinitis prevalence began increasing in many developing countries in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

What is the mortality rate of asthma?

Death Rate Extrapolation. Death rate extrapolations for USA for Asthma: 5,637 per year, 469 per month, 108 per week, 15 per day, 0 per hour, 0 per minute, 0 per second.